My husband, my partner

As yesterday was our 7 year anniversary - I feel it's only appropriate to spend a blog on my other half. Chris and I met in college. He was directing Shakespeare, I signed on to assist him. We dated, we didn't date, we dated again and then the May of my graduation we went to Disneyworld together with a group of friends. Since he was a year ahead of me, and lived in NJ while I was in CT - we only saw each other on weekends, spoke through emails and phone calls and tried our hardest to navigate his first grown-up job and my student teaching. When we went to Disney, we spent an entire, un-interrupted week together for the first time. I swear, I fell in love with him on a completely new level and I knew we would spend the rest of our lives together (with multiple trips to Disney!) He proposed on Christmas Eve of that year and a rather lengthy 19 months later, we were married.

Our wedding was an event to remember. And I do remember it. Chris and I decided that we would not drink, we wanted to enjoy ourselves and not regret anything in the morning! I don't think our dance floor was ever empty. I enjoyed every minute of my wedding day from my 7am breakfast with the bridesmaids, to relaxing with a small group of friends in the living room of our suite until 2am. Our honeymoon was glorious - First to Disney and a stay and the luxurious Grand Floridian and then to Hawaii. And then we came home, and real life began. We had an adorable little first floor apartment across from the train station in Fairfield. Chris commuted to NYC and I finished up the last few weeks of summer vacation. That winter we decided to look for a house. We moved at the end of February and found out we were having Molly in April.

To say life has taken us on a roller coaster ride, is, quite frankly, an understatement. We were kids when we got married. Boy, did we grow up fast. Through it all though, Chris has remained my constant. I loved him when we got engaged, I loved him on a whole new level when we got married, and then the love deepened again the first time I consciously saw him hold our daughter. She was so small, and he was so gentle. You could see the love radiating from him.

Marriage is not easy. It's not the stylish thing to do. It's a commitment. There will be hard times. Times like now when the purse strings barely stretch to fit the ever growing pile of bills. Times where you watch your child unconscious in the ER and anger fills ever part of you. Times where the garbage is overflowing and the clothes are folded wrong and the toilet seat is up. Times that I have yet to experience in my relatively young marriage. But, I know, without a shadow of doubt, that Chris will be there - right by my side, working through it as my partner. It's not me against him.

There are times I look for the argument, that he just doesn't want to give. There are times when I am so crabby, even I can't stand to be around me! But, bless his heart and soul - Chris is there. We took our vows. To be there for better and for worse. I know the road ahead of us is not paved and smooth. I know we will encounter challenges we cannot even fathom at this moment. But I look behind me at the road we have already traveled and at the couple smiling their faces off as they took their firsts steps as husband and wife and I know there is something good here. Whether we just got lucky and found our perfect matches, or if we were destined to be - I am thankful for every day I get to be Mrs. Christopher Renz.

I can't help but be a sap when I talk about our relationship, there is a lot of love in our lives and we thank God for that every single day!